09:40am     A relaxing start to my day and once again it is Non Farm Payrolls day in the U.S. so no trading for me, the markets are usually quiet in the run up to the job’s number announcement and then volatile afterwards. I will be back in front of my screens next Tuesday after the bank holiday weekend here in the UK.

Market Update:

U.S. markets experienced a volatile session on Thursday with the Dow Jones 30 index dropping over 400 points at one stage early in the day but then closed ahead by a slim margin of 5 points.  The S&P-500 did not recover as well as its sister index and eventually closed at 2629.73, down 6 points on the day as traders adjusted their positions ahead of today’s U.S. jobs number report and also bargain-hunted as stocks were perceived to be cheap by many investors although the price did drop through the 200-day moving average briefly on the S&P and thi is received as a bearish sign so watch for further falls in the next few weeks.

The overnight Asian trading session was quite subdued and at the close the main markets were all in negative territory except for Japan which is closed for their ‘Greenery’ day bank holiday. Investors and traders were focusing on U.S/China trade talks where the U.S. seemed demanding excessive measures so any kind of agreement is deemed to be difficult to reach.  Gold has bounced well off its 200-day moving average this week but this morning’s price action is suggesting a return to the MA as we witnessed a bearish reversal earlier today from the significant $1315 level, watch the chart carefully as there could be some interesting trade opportunities emerging.

Oil markets have experienced a modest gain in the past few days as concerns regarding further sanctions being imposed on Iran come to the forefront, U.S. WTI Crude reached a high during April of $69.50 but has been steadily declining since then and bounced off the $66.75 minor support earlier in the week and is now resuming the bullish trend.